Camping and Caravanning Club - out of touch?

We recently spent three nights at Delamere and were quite surprised to be charged almost £90. The surprise coupled with many empty pitches prompted me to send this email - their reply below.

Just returned from an enjoyable but oh so expensive three night stay at Delamere. It has to be noted that I have NEVER (despite it being our most visited site) seen so many empty spaces on a Friday night. You need to know that your pricing is the single most common topic of conversation between campers. It makes business sense to maximise club income but there comes a level where the membership and others say "NO" and vote with their feet or whatever form of transport they use. Keep it affordable or expect income to fall.

Reply received today

Thank you for your enquiry.

I am sorry that you feel our campsites have become too expensive for you to enjoy.

Regrettably the cost of maintaining and developing the network of Club sites has grown over the years. A number of our sites are in need of investment to ensure they continue to deliver the qualities expected from the Club or even improve beyond this to keep them attractive to future Members. Two main changes have effectively been made to help the Club achieve this; firstly the restructure of base prices to ensure a degree of income can be generated allowing planned investment, and secondly the introduction of flexible pricing to enable greater responsiveness to camper demand and the value on offer.

However, we remain very aware that not all Members feel this way and there is no doubt that combinations of personal circumstance and camping activity (e.g., a price rise, the introduction of a shoulder season) can represent significant change for certain stays depending on site and date.

The decisions regarding this initiative were made in full consultation with elected Member committees and voluntary officers representing the Membership after many years of research, planning, and consideration of Club finances and obligations to its Membership, and it was always acknowledged that, regrettably, there would be some Members who would feel unhappy with the initial restructuring of prices and the new presentation of fees.

We are aware that some of our campsites have had an increase in price against last year however, there are still over 30 sites that are cheaper in high season than in 2013 and 20 sites have a lower family deal in high season than 2013.

We appreciate your comments and I can assure you that they have been passed to our Marketing team who look at customer feedback to help make improvements for the future.

And I thought the CC were expensive. Their argument holds very little water, as gross memberships have risen in (both) clubs by about 60,000 in the last five years, whilst warden based services have deteriorated, (namely offices being shut throughout greater parts of the day owing to staff shortage).
The stock letter they sent by return just goes to prove they don't give a damn.

'Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch'

"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us"
Sir Winston Churchill

'And the Good Lord did say, "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall not be disappointed."

interestly, most very good to good camp sites in Spain and France are leagues better than the best Camp' & Caravan, Caravan Club ......cost wise as well as facilities......my wife and I experience's over the last three years from our tours here in the UK and aboard

We don't need EHU, showers, toilet blocks and the rest so don't use main sites (be they club or private) unless there is no alternative. Our preference is for rallying (not CC because of the convoluted route of finding out what's on and the need to book in advance for arranged events we probably don't want) with CLs/CSs second.

We have stayed on CC sites but never C&CC. We retain CC membership purely for access to the CL network (as they still insist on a member only rule).

Not only expensive pitches but in my opinion discrimination against the smaller van. All pay the same price with or without awning and yet a 6m camper gets put on the 'runt' pitch.
I wrote a formal letter re the above and the reply was a message left on our answer system!! Not willing to accept this I rang the number they gave and eventually spoke to someone who tried to justify the prices and the fact it is perfectly acceptable to get a small dark, dank and dreary pitch if you are a smaller Motorhome! To shut me up I was offered a £10 voucher this arrived with a With Compliments slip,
' As agreed £10 voucher cheers Drew '
all written in green ink!!

As regards charges in general it's like everything else in the free market. If the pricing model they currently have brings in more than the previous one then it is working. If not they have to change or fail.

Club sites are so expensive that we now only use them if we get a special offer discount. CL and CS sites are the way to go - well at least for us!

Click to expand...

As a solo motorhomer, provided the weather's good enough to allow me to pitch up on grass and not need EHU, the club sites are usually cheaper than a CS, which usually assumes 2+ persons.

Having said that, so far this year I don't think I've come across a club site that is cheaper compared with last year but then again the C&CC often promote their cheaper 2014 high season prices and most of my bookings are low/medium season.

And don't get me started on the new 'shoulder season'!

In fact, I'll stop now....this topic has already come up several times this year. We won't know whether the C&CC will regret their new rules until the 2014 - 2015 financial results come out. I thought I read recently that their early-summer bookings were very good.

Club sites are so expensive that we now only use them if we get a special offer discount. CL and CS sites are the way to go - well at least for us!

Click to expand...

I agree, although for the last two years we have noticed that the CLs are never at the price stated in the CC book. I know they give the caveat 'the stated price may not be the one you pay' but it usually was up until a couple of years ago, since then they have always been at least £2 more than stated, sometimes more. So we are using Britstops more and more these days - and before anyone says - they can sometimes be more expensive, a couple of pints on an evening with the van just yards away is far preferable to me than a farmer's field with uncut grass, no facilities, and then being charged a higher rate than expected.

I'm not a member of Camping and Caravanning but do stay in several different campsites and cannot believe how prices have gone up. I suppose since the financial crash, many more families now favour camping holidays over foreign trips and it is a case of 'supply and demand.' Sad thing is, my daughter and I worked it out, and when one took into account insurance, road tax, mot, general mechanical upkeep and campsite fees, we realised we were paying out much more this year than we would have done if we'd stayed in B&Bs for the number of nights we've been away. I love my old van but it does give one pause for thought.

Too right the CCC are out of touch. A few months ago an article about cleaning motorhomes appeared in the "ask the expert" part of the magazine. The article was at best misleading and at worse advised methods that could damage members vans. I wrote a polite email to the editor pointing out these errors only to receive an email from the author of the article basically saying she was right I was wrong and anyway she knew far more about the subject than me. I didn't bother pursuing it anymore as clearly there was no point. I am still a member of CCC as we do like to use the DA meets and temporary holiday sites as they can be in cracking locations and are keenly priced.
PS I'm still waiting to hear from Jim ref. forum sponsorship

We don't need EHU, showers, toilet blocks and the rest so don't use main sites (be they club or private) unless there is no alternative. Our preference is for rallying (not CC because of the convoluted route of finding out what's on and the need to book in advance for arranged events we probably don't want) with CLs/CSs second.

We have stayed on CC sites but never C&CC. We retain CC membership purely for access to the CL network (as they still insist on a member only rule).

Click to expand...

Agree that's all we use ccc for but I think they have had the last money they are having off me, we can always find somewhere else, I think you will get on quite a few cls without being a member Just ask at an empty one

Not only expensive pitches but in my opinion discrimination against the smaller van. All pay the same price with or without awning and yet a 6m camper gets put on the 'runt' pitch.
I wrote a formal letter re the above and the reply was a message left on our answer system!! Not willing to accept this I rang the number they gave and eventually spoke to someone who tried to justify the prices and the fact it is perfectly acceptable to get a small dark, dank and dreary pitch if you are a smaller Motorhome! To shut me up I was offered a £10 voucher this arrived with a With Compliments slip,
' As agreed £10 voucher cheers Drew'
all written in green ink!!

Another not renewing when membership runs out.

Click to expand...

That's why I left the C&CC three years back. Now a member of CC but apart from Sandringham we only use the CLs (many of which are very good). When going to Sandringham we save for the months leading up to the trip! Allegro, I really hope you used that voucher!